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March April 2017 KESHER.Pub SOCIETY HILL SYNAGOGUE MARCH/APRIL 2017 NEWSLETTER Kesher Inside Messages from: 2 - 3 • Student Rabbi’s Column • President’s Column 4 - 5 • Cantor’s Column • Ann Spak Thal Hebrew School 6 - 7 • Playschool • Nominating Committee • Arts & Culture SHS Annual • Inter-NOSH-ional Night 8 - 9 • PIC Community • POWER • Young Friends of SHS • 2016-2017 B’nai Mitzvah Seder 10 - 11 • Birthdays Tuesday, April 11, 6 PM • Anniversaries Come to SHS’s Annual Second Night Passover Seder! • Social Action Committee Join us in the Social Hall where Rabbinic Intern Nathan Kamesar will lead a creative, fun-filled, and interactive Community Seder on the second night of 12 - 13 Passover. • Contributions We will be ordering delicious kosher meals from Panache Catering. 14 - 15 (www.foodarama.com) • TGIShabbat Schedule 16-17 Cost: $45 per adult $20 per child (under 13) • Annual Giving Thank you Fee includes a complete Seder plate for each table. • Hebrew School Photos Bring your own Kosher for Passover wine! 18 - 19 • Photo Gallery RSVPs and payments are REQUIRED by Monday, April 3. Seating may • Purim Carnival be limited, so please contact the office at [email protected] or 215.922.6590 ASAP. 20 - 21 • Young Families Group Menu: Gefilte Fish with Horseradish, Chopped Chicken Liver, Apricot • Photo Gallery Glazed Roasted Chicken or Grilled Salmon, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrot 22 - 23 Medley, Potato Kugel, Mixed Garden Salad, Pickles, Sour Tomatoes, • March/April Calendars Olives, Matzah, Assorted Passover Cakes, Cookies, and Fresh Fruit. Seating requests will be honored if possible. Wishing everyone a sweet and happy Passover! 2 SOCIETY HILL SYNAGOGUE’S KESHER Student Rabbi’s Column How Can We Keep Our Spiritual Tanks Filled? Nathan Kamesar n these trying times, one of the virtues of being affiliated with a religious institution is that that institution is (or should be) unwaveringly concerned with what it means to be a human being, I and particularly with what it takes to ensure that we, as human beings, are not running on empty––that we are physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually nourished. This enables us to serve others with the urgency that this moment deserves. So how does a synagogue, for instance, do this? How can it help you to keep your soul nourished so that you can, in turn, help those around you? In many different ways. And not all of these ways are compatible with all of our spiritual needs. For some, religion and spirituality are largely matters of thinking: we like to intellectualize our religious experience. For us, the most relevant sites for spirituality might be Torah study or Adult Education classes. We like to theorize, for instance, about why our ancestors would have chosen the specific laws they chose. Why prohibit consuming meat and milk together? Could that have been based on ancient intuitions about health needs? Or was it merely a matter of making ourselves distinct from neighboring peoples? Questions of this nature and the discussions they evoke can have the effect of nourishing our souls, lifting us off the ground, giving us a little hop in our step so that we feel more energized to help folks around us. For some of us, spirituality takes place in prayer spaces. The liturgy itself, largely focused on grandiosity––sovereignty, celestiality, vastness, immensity––lifts us beyond the mundane we typically encounter and takes us up into the clouds, so to speak, allowing us to feel rejuvenated for the work down below. Alternatively, prayer spaces give us the room to have personal dialogues with God: we may not be entirely clear about who is on the other end of our two-way conversation, but we feel heard. Perhaps we even feel guided. We feel what the Hasidic masters called d’vekut (cleaving to God), and that relationship propels us forward. For others, perhaps, it’s a combination of the two: the traditional liturgy gives us the roadmap to talk to God; someone has provided the script, and we inhabit the character uttering those words. Someone has provided the lyrics and we provide the melody. Talking to God can be daunting otherwise. It can help to travel the road already traveled by our ancestors, even while our own footprints look and feel different. Finally, with respect to prayer spaces, there are those of us for whom the traditional liturgy is an obstacle to holiness, rather than a vehicle. Ancient idioms about kings alienate us. Talk of angels weirds us out. Still there is something about sharing a physical space with fellow Jews or with friends and family that lifts us to a higher place. Music is another mode of spirituality for many people. Whether it is the beautiful performances we see once a month here during TGIShabbat services, or the soulful dirge of a High Holy Day melody, or the cheery finale to a Shabbat service like Adon Olam or Ein Keloheinu which brings us back to our childhood, music can lift our spirits. Our ancestors recognized this. It is why so many of the Psalms contain the superscription (first verse) “For the leader, with instrumental music” or words to that effect. It may even be non-Jewish music that does it for you (Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, and Otis Redding all tend to have this effect on me). The point is to be conscientious about making sure your tank is filled and not assuming that because a particular mode of spirituality doesn’t work for you––traditional prayer liturgy, for example––that you are “not a spiritual person.” We often get the sense that self-care is important. To that end we seek out physical fitness routines that feel good; we find foods to nourish us; and we attend to our psychological and emotional needs, finding friends to talk to, or a therapist perhaps. But with the enterprise of self-care seeming all the more central given the levels of social anxiety we encounter, it is important that we not neglect the spiritual element of our well-being. Continued on page 14 3 MARCH/APRIL 2017 | 5777 President’s Column Service and Satisfaction Harry J. Oxman ecently a close friend, who is not a member of SHS, asked me whether I found the job of congregation president to be very demanding. I was tempted to ask him if he was joking, R but then I remembered that he had been the president of a large suburban congregation and that his question was actually more nuanced. We then had a discussion about the demands of the job, but also about the tremendous opportunities for serving the community and for personal satisfaction that the position makes possible. So, while I must confess that there are times this job makes more demands of my effort, my time, my thoughts, and my emotional commitment than I originally imagined, I also must admit that on the personal satisfaction side, my expectations have been overwhelmingly exceeded. A big explanation for my good fortune stems from the collective community spirit in our shul. Like other members of this congregation who devote their time and passion to our community, I have been deeply moved by the appreciation and thanks I receive. There is nothing more satisfying, and motivating then to know, by both word and response, that my efforts are realized and appreciated. So, eight months into this first year of my presidential term, I thank you all for your support and promise that I will continue to make every effort to lead this community in meeting the challenges ahead. Let us look at what has occurred since July 1, 2016, and then I will address plans for the future. First, Rabbi Winokur is now on a long overdue sabbatical that started at the beginning of February and will continue until the middle of May. The synagogue leadership was well prepared, and together with Student Rabbi Nathan Kamesar, Cantors Friedrich and Friedman, and our outstanding Religion Committee members, our schedule of engaging and spiritually uplifting services will continue without interruption. If you have not heard one of Nathan’s D’var Torahs, I recommend that you do so soon. His talks regularly provide deep and interesting insights. I offer my thanks to the SHS membership for the gracious manner in which you are supporting Rabbi Winokur’s temporary absence. As you know, the Cantor Search process is underway. Rather, than showing reluctance to undertake this task so soon after completing a search last year, Co-Chairs Terri Novick and Marc Schwartz, along with the members of their committee, have enthusiastically begun the work necessary to make this new effort successful. Cantor Jessi Roemer had her interview and auditions in January, and we expect to have several more candidates participate in the interview and audition process in March and April. I applaud the congregation’s participation in the evaluation of Cantor Roemer and expect an equal level of involvement going forward. Your input is critical and your participation confirms to the leadership that you appreciate the Search Committee’s efforts to find the best candidates for this job. As a result of the current Board’s initiative, we established an SHS Past Presidents Advisory Committee. Immediate Past President Debra Stewart chaired the first meeting on January 17, and more than ten past presidents attended. This productive meeting allowed experienced past leaders to share their institutional memory and advice with current Board members. Most inspiring was that so many of our Past Presidents remained dedicated to Society Hill Synagogue. We look forward to scheduling more of these meetings in the future. In addition to our Cantor Search, we will also be undertaking a search to find a new B’nai Mitzvah Educator.
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